rsgl

Drove this weekend in heavy snow. While pressing on in the slushy unplowed left lane, passing everyone of course, I guess the quattro system freaked out, and popped all the above mentioned warning lights. Probably too much speed differential side to side, for too long; and the brakes, which compensate for this (instead of the good ol' real torsen differentials in the real, original quattros,) got overdosed/overheated. Anyone else get this? Solved when ignition cycled off-on.

Milan TDI

Did you get a lot of ESP warning light flashes before this problem, indicating that ESP/EDL was continuously intervening?

Your ar has a REAL Torsen center differential. The first quattro's had a center and rear differential that could be permanently locked. This had disadvantages in handling and cornering, ABS not possible etc, but was better for pure traction on very slippery surfaces.

BTW
DSC is the BMW name for ESP!)

roxreps

How fast were you going when ride height dropped?

rsgl

.....cause it uses the ABS system and brakes, thus feels lousy. Had it on my Volvo too. However admittedly the car handles well when it's working. I was going about 50 mph, and the ESP activity lights had been flashing pretty continuously for a few minutes. Not more than a few minutes though.

Ride height did not drop. I was at level 2. Only the warning light for ride height came on, and I did not try to change level so I don't know if the system cut out. However the ESP system did stop functioning, as did ABS.

It all came back when I cycled the engine off-on, which I did after I got home, about 20 minutes of driving with the warning lights on.

One would think the system would not cut out in such conditions, conditions for which the car is advertised to be especially competent.......

CTallroad

This happened to me on Saturday night only I was going slower and in less snow.

30 MPH, level 3, moderate snow/ice/slush on the back roads here in Connecticut. All of a sudden, really, the ABS/ESP/Ride Height lights come on. I don't think I'd even seen the ESP flash before this.

A little freaked out, I pulled over before getting on the highway and cycled the car off/on. Of course this cured the lights, but it doesn't exactly give me the warm fuzzies about taking my car up North for a real snow adventure.

Chris C

<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/65891.phtml">Too lazy to retype this every few days :-P</a></li></ul>

StumpJumper

at least I wasn't the only one

Chris C

Nope, and there will be more :-).

rsgl

....however the point of my post is not what went wrong, a diagnosis I made myself without reading the manual, but rather that the quattro system has a major weakness here. If you turn of DSC or ESP or whatever you want to call it, you have much impaired stability.

Chris C

The quattro system works great without ESP. My S4 and allroad are my first Audis to have it, and I would be much happier if the S4 didn't. There is no impairment of stability without ESP, you just lose the artificially enhanced stability that ESP provides. The car still will be much more stable than any non-AWD vehicle. Tires also have a lot to do with this. With proper snows instead of the stock POS tires you will feel a lot more confident in the car's abilities.